Aston Villa may soon regret having made little use of Pierluigi Gollini at the club.
When signing the goalkeeper in a €5m deal from Hellas Verona in the summer of 2016, they gave him some playing time, getting 20 starts in his first months at the club.
But that was all he had for Aston Villa. In January 2017, Gollini joined Atalanta on a one and a half year loan, later making his move permanent in June 2018 for only €3.8m.
Since then, his career has been on a rise. He’s been part of the team that conquered a spot in the Champions League for this season, and has been called up for the national squad lately.
Gollini has spoken to Italian newspaper Tuttosport this Saturday, and talked about the great time he’s been having.
“I feel different, improved. I am very happy, playing is always important, I took confidence and working in training I managed to fix a few flaws: from this point of view, my sincere thanks goes to the coach Biffi with whom we try to grow every day,” Gollini told Tuttosport.
“At 24 I arrived in the Champions League, I’m aware that I can and I still have to do more. Never lower the guard, always on the pitch with personality, even trying to get the best out of teammates.”
Gollini is still to make his debut for Italy, but has been taking some great experiences from his time with the national team.
“From the national team I bring great emotions, it is an honour to be part of that group. Go around the world with the team of your country, with lots of great players. It’s something that enriches you, the group is great and the mentality too. Among my teammates with Italy I noticed great respect and consideration for Atalanta, this is a very positive thing: when they play against us, they know that the game is tough.”
He’s come a long way since being deemed surplus to requirements by Aston Villa.
